History of Anwial Plagues. 265 



garians — who lent their assistance to Maria Theresa^ the 

 daughter of Charles — and the Austrians drew their supplies oF 

 cattle from Hungary. The movements of the hostile armies^ ac- 

 companied^ as they were, by infected droves, diffused the conta- 

 gion far and wide, and rendered futile all attempts to suppress it 

 at the seat of war. And at a later period, Frederick the Great, 

 contending repeatedly with the armies of Austria and Russia, 

 carried the pestilence about in his own dominions, or was the 

 means of importing new sources from the adjacent countries. 

 The principal of these irruptions will be alluded to in the order 

 of their occurrence. 



A.D. 1 741. Very irregular seasons, and a cloudy summer. 

 A most severe winter in America, where many cattle perished 

 for want of food. In England, horses, cattle, and sheep died 

 from starvation. Huxham again writes for the month of March, 

 when people in England were suffering from catarrhs and an- 

 ginas : ' Almost all horses, unless well taken care of in their 

 stables, were affected with a purulent cough and mange, became 

 emaciated and weak, so that many perished,^ ^ 



In Ireland, for February 17th, it is recorded: *We hear from 

 different parts of the country, that numbers of people daily die 

 of fluxes and fevers, from want of proper food ; and that there 

 is great sickness among horses, of which numbers die, which 

 people eat for want of other victuals.' ^ 



'Tillage in the year 1740 was sadly deficient, owing perhaps 

 as much to the despair of the people as to their actual sufferings; 

 but whatever the cause, the effect was the same, and the year 

 1741 was even worse than that which preceded it. Horses, 

 cows, sheep, pigs, and poultry, all were struck by the plague, 

 and perished; and the mortality of the people must have been 

 increased by feeding on the diseased animals. There were, also, 

 it is said, shoals of dead fish cast on shore, on which the people 

 also fed, but it is not believed that such food was unwholesome. 

 The next harvest was plentiful, and it was said that, cows being 

 very scarce, a sheep produced as much milk that year as a cow 

 would in ordinary seasons. The year 1741 was always mcn- 



' Huxham. Op. cit., p. 232. 2 /-^^^//.^^/j Dublin Journal. 



